There was no shortage of public response from Missouri coaches, MU administrators and politicians representing the Show-Me State about the penalties the NCAA handed down to Missouri for a tutor doing the schoolwork of 12 students on her own volition.

Most of them used different words to convey the same message: Missouri did the right thing throughout the NCAA’s investigation and still got punished.

Nobody used stronger language than Jon Sundvold, the chair of the University of Missouri Board of Curators.

“As David Roberts, NCAA Committee on Infractions panel chief officer, said, ‘Missouri did the right thing.’ I now expect the NCAA to do the right thing,” Sundvold wrote. “If it doesn't, a dangerous precedent has been set. When an individual acts independently of their employer, violates rules, commits extortion and shops her accusations to the highest bidder, why would that institution be punished unjustly after doing the right thing?

“Inconsistent actions by the NCAA continue to erode its credibility. If it doesn’t admit and correct this unprecedented fault, many Power Five schools, like Missouri, will question the need for the NCAA as a governing body.”

In a phone interview Friday afternoon with the Tribune, Sundvold said he believed the NCAA “could have a quicker appeals process than normal” in order to fix penalties that felt overcooked.

“Most organizations, you think about the consistency of how they do things. The NCAA, the integrity of it has been in question for a number of years,” Sundvold told the Tribune. “If they’re not consistent with how they do things and they don’t seem to have a process and you penalize those you say do it right and don’t worry about those that do it wrong and aren’t penalized… in our case, they said Missouri did the right thing.”

Sundvold said the Board of Curators would not be “on the front line” of the appeals process. That job will fall to the university’s general counsel working with UM System President Mun Choi, MU Chancellor Alexander Cartwright and Sterk.

“I’m hoping we’re not just smiling and moving on,” Sundvold told the Tribune. “We think we’ve been wronged and I think all of those coaches understand that the student-athletes — which the NCAA continues to say that’s what it’s about — the student-athletes that are here and going forward shouldn’t be penalized for some things that happened that were cleaned up by the university.”

Public officials, from Missouri state representative Vicky Hartzler to Missouri Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden to United States Senator Roy Blunt, all spoke out against the level of the NCAA sanctions. Choi released a statement Friday afternoon.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said Friday, “We are seeking to understand the committee’s decision related to the severity of the penalties applied to Missouri, particularly in light of the university’s exemplary cooperation in the case. Consistent with our standard approach to support member universities, the SEC Office stands ready to advise and assist in Missouri’s appeal process.”

Missouri softball coach Larissa Anderson and baseball coach Steve Bieser also released statements Friday. Their programs, as well as the football program, were handed a one-year postseason ban, a 5 percent reduction in scholarships, widespread recruiting restrictions and a fine equal to 1 percent of their sport’s budget.

“I am so disheartened by the committee's decision to hand down a punishment against our current student-athletes who have done nothing wrong - it is unreasonable and undeserved,” softball coach Larissa Anderson said in her statement. “It is beyond me that the NCAA promotes the value of the student-athlete experience, while at the same time approving such damaging sanctions against an innocent group of them.”

Missouri is optimistic its appeal will stay the postseason bans on the softball and baseball teams, which were set to go into effect this season. Even if the appeal is denied, the bans could be delayed if the appeal process is ongoing when the postseason begins.

No doubt those bans would temper excitement for the programs this season, plus football for 2019 if it stands. There’s a good argument that the recruiting restrictions are even more damaging because of the long-term effects it would cause in building a recruiting class that is supposed to stick around for four seasons.

Those restrictions included a seven-week ban on unofficial visits, recruiting communications and off-campus recruiting, plus a 12.5 percent reduction in official visits and evaluation days.

The restrictions were especially frustrating for Odom, who noted that Missouri didn’t commit any recruiting violations in this particular case.

Odom said he wasn’t sure if those seven weeks had to be concurrent or if they could be split up around the course of the year, but he was sure that it’d be a massive blow to Missouri’s efforts in recruiting the Class of 2020.

“You better be really really creative on how you do it,” Odom said when asked how the team planned to recruit around the restrictions. “The time that you choose to do that, that will be something we really — we’ve already given thought, but also I feel really strongly moving forward with the appeal process. I have really strong conviction on the case we have. I think this has shown me you better plan for everything.”

Odom said he learned about the sanctions at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and broke the news to the team at 11 a.m. He had a private talk with the seniors following the initial team meeting and met with the seniors again Thursday night.

They were impacted more than other classes — the hearing panel that ruled on the Missouri case recommended that the NCAA waive the one-year waiting period for any seniors that wanted to transfer out because they wouldn’t have the opportunity to participate in the postseason for the remainder of their time at the school.

Odom said no seniors spoke up to him about wanting to leave, but “there’s been a number of schools that have reached out to a heavy percentage of them. That’s been noted, and we’ll continue to work and build this team.”

He also stood behind the words of Sterk and chancellor Alexander Cartwright, whose statements he holds with “stronger conviction as time goes on than I did when we put them out.”

Odom, Sterk and Cartwright aren’t alone. The entire Show-Me State appears to be unified for the upcoming appeal.

“I know we’re all aligned in our vision and what’s right,” Odom said. “Just like a team, when you’re going through adversity, you lock arms and you battle together and you find a way to keep moving forward.”

djones@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1787

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